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While walking with my back facing Yanagi, I frowned at the display that shows 『MP: 3680/29490』 on my status screen.

"…. It may have been my overwhelming victory concerning the result, but it was actually quite dangerous."

This time, I possessed the two powers that I recently obtained–Greed and Time Zero.

Both of them require a large amount of MP as when plundering magic, the equivalent amount of MP to activate the said magic was required, and in the case of Time Zero, 100 MP will be consumed uniformly.

That's why it might have been dangerous if the battle continued for a little longer or if Yanagi had been using magics consecutively.

"Well, Yanagi didn't do it because he was afraid that I would plunder his magic, though. Besides, even if he did, I have thought of a way to deal with it…."

Regardless, I'm really glad I was able to win safely.

An opponent who had good thinking was really troublesome by itself. If it was just about the difference in ability, I had already realized it strongly when I fought the Tenraijuu, but this opponent has a different strength than the Tenraijuu.

…. This undoubtedly was the dreadfulness of fighting against a person.

As this was the first time I fought against a person, I was able to learn of its dreadfulness for the first time too.

But, suddenly, the figures of a certain group of thugs passed through my mind, but it must have been my imagination. 1

Rather than that.

"Are you okay, Hana?"

I placed a knee on the ground in front of Hana and asked.

Then,

"_Onii-chan!"

"Oops"

As if from the relief of being released from the tension of battle, Hana jumped on me with all her might. And as I hug her back, with a quivering voice, Hana said.

"…. I was terrified."

"I see. I'm sorry. Because I was late, I put Hana in danger."

"That's not it! I was so terrified…that Onii-chan would die because I called for help…"

"… Hana"

I gently caressed Hana's head.

"It's all already over. I'm sorry if I made you worry."

"No, as long as you are safe, that's fine."

"Thank you. However, it looks like I made you experience something scary in the middle of the fight. Were the parts where the dagger hit okay?"

"Un. Thanks to you, I'm completely fine, Onii-chan. Ehehe…"

Certainly, it seems there were no new scratches on Hana's body. Thus, I stroked my chest, relieved.

…. I'm really glad that the [Cladding Barrier] is a skill that could be used by others too.

______-

Cladding Barrier Lv1: Consume MP to generate a wall of magic power that envelops the target. (The strength and duration dependent on the skill’s level)

Cooldown time: 60 seconds

______-

As described in the description of the skill, this skill could be activated to the target and was not limited to the person who activates the skill. That's why, as soon as I arrived here, I activated the [Cladding Barrier] against Hana. Which means, I used it for myself after 60 seconds had passed since I had a conversation with Yanagi.

Truth to be told, I wish I could overwhelm the fight so much that Yanagi couldn't aim for Hana, but he kept making countermeasures to survive until the end. I have to say once again, he was really a troublesome opponent.

"Nee, Onii-chan"

"Nn?"

When I was thinking about that, Hana called me.

"Onii-chan is actually very strong, right?"

"… I hid it from you, sorry."

"No, you don't have to apologize. Now that I experienced something like this, I know that there is a reason for you to do that, right?"

"… Aa. I'll explain everything when we get home."

"Un"

Now that it has become like this, surely, I should explain everything to Hana, about the path that I have walked until now.

But for now, I want to rejoice in the fact that Hana is safe. From the bottom of my heart, I thought so.

Footnotes

1. Referring to the Thugs who abandoned Yui.